He took the words right out of my mouth

[cassidyrose]

Sept. 11 made us all feel unsafe. It's an unfamiliar feeling here, but it is common almost everywhere else. We lived in a lovely bubble, partly because we chose not to see the violence in our own culture, partly because we have not had war brought within our borders for a long time. The dream is dead. There is no getting it back. Let's calm down. --Jon Carroll

I have thought the same thing many times over the past many months. Every time Dubya would go on and on about the pure "evil" of Bin Laden, I would think: What about the rapists, queer bashers, and murderers all over our country? How is Bin Laden really all that different? (yes, I know there are some qualitative differences, but you know, if you kill people in cold blood, you kill people in cold blood. Period).

How convenient it is to ignore the very real problems of security and safety faced by millions of American men, women, and children everyday and focus on an outside threat. Apparently, Dubya (and many like him) are comfortable ignoring the very real problem of violence in the good 'ol US of A. Granted, I don't have to deal with suicide bombers at my local cafe, but I do have to worry about someone knocking down my door and raping me. As a result of my gender, I do have to worry about going out alone at night, travelling alone, being targeted for rape or assualt, being mugged, getting carjacked....the list goes on. And what about people of color? I doubt they have felt "safe" living in a country where acts of racial discrimination and racially motivated violence still regularly occur.

I was almost gang raped at the age of 17 at the local university in the small town where I grew up. There have since been a number of rapes on that campus, some committed by students, some by staff, and some by random people living in town (what happened to me). I was hassled more times than I can count and threatened with rape more than once living and working in that town. I rarely felt "safe". The things that go on there, like so many places in the United State, continue to go on because they are ignored. For whatever reason, the safety of female, queer, and citizens of color is not a priority, and is not taken seriously.

There are plenty of reasons for me to feel unsafe in my life, but going to the airport and getting on an airplane are just not among the top reasons most days.

Comments

[giaxcomo.livejournal.com]

Great article, and great comment.

I agree

[eeyore74.livejournal.com]

I couldn't agree with you more! You bring up very good and VALID points!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

This echoes a post I made on LJ a long time ago: I never DID feel like the world was a safe place, so I didn't have that illusion to shatter; I felt no trust betrayed. The only illusion I had was far smaller: "we're too big and too far away for most folk to want to come hurt us". The loss of that illusion isn't anywhere near as painful as the loss of "the world is fundamentally a nice place". The world's always been fundamentally unsafe for me.

I actually go so far, sometimes, as to regard people who DO "feel safe" as clueless. :-J

There are plenty of reasons for me to feel unsafe in my life, but going to the airport and getting on an airplane are just not among the top reasons most days.

I agree completely. I suppose that's why I was able to get on five different airplanes between September 15 and September 30, 2001. Well, that plus the fact I'd already booked them. :)